Alessandra Jerolleman
Location of experience: North America; Caribbean and Central America; Europe
Type of disaster work: Disaster recovery; Disaster risk reduction; Planning
Primary Interests: Sustainability, resilience, and mitigation; Governance; Migration, displacement, and resettlement; Climate change and climate change adaptation; Emergency management / Disaster management
I have seen disaster risk reduction, and hazard mitigation, efforts fail repeatedly due to a failure to fully consider local needs, practices, and perceptions. In many cases, I have seen these efforts exacerbate vulnerability and disenfranchise communities. What strikes the most is that I have seen this occur in academic, practitioner, and policy worlds. As a professional with involvement across all three, I am very interested in how collaborative and transdisciplinary models can lead to change, in both mind sets and policy.